Sadiq Khan shouldn't be able to tell us what is an unhealthy body

[feellikeahugefailure]

So the London Mayer has banned adverts with “Unhealthy or Unrealistic” body images. Doesn't this just all feed into people these days unaware of what a healthy body image is? This woman is in great shape and looks very healthy to me.

Sorry if there has been a post on this, I find the advanced search here not that great.

"Would be interesting to know if people who disagree with the ad would be willing to pay an extra premium on their travel/train tickets for the luxury of not having adverts."

On the other hand if public transport was subsidised appropriately........

peach Because, in a capitalist society, that health food supplement company is the only one out there trying to increase its sales, yeah? There's absolutely no chance that London public transport could ever fill its billboard spaces with ads from competing companies, yeah?

Uh, we aren't campaigning to have adverts banned. We'd just like them to uphold certain standards. I think you'll find that adverts are regulated so as not to be offensive or untrue. Some people consider this one offensive.

Peach no one said ban all adverts. Ban stupid,harmful, body or whatever else shaming adds. Surely they're not ALL like that?

So her teenager is being told by her "friends" that she's fat, not an advert. Do you ban the friend?

I can see how banning it should work. But without banning everything else too, I don't see how it can.

Sure ban an advert, but how d'you deal with the girls who cry because they don't look like Beyoncé or Kim K etc?

How about a billboard with a picture of a show home with an amazing nursery with all the blows and whistles with the writing "are you motherhood/parenthood ready?"

You still don't see it?

Well, Milk, we challenge examples of misgyny and body shaming wherever we can and slowly it becomes a less prevalent attitude in society.

And I wouldn't encourage my children to stay friends with people who insult them and make them cry, no.

Alternatively, if you think it would be better then we could just let advertisers put whatever they like in their ads and see if we end up with better results that way? Personally, I think it's best to keep them regulated and to raise issues when we think it's important. Even if we turn out to be wrong, it's a conversation worth having.

I see nothing wrong with this advert.

I am 2 stone over my ideal weight - I had two DC in as many years so my body is not exactly looking its best.

In the same way I have a couple of photos on my phone of me at my best (for inspiration to help me get back into shape), I can still admire a nice looking body such as the one in the ad. Yes I do feel a bit envious, no I will never look like that lady... But that's my issue to deal with!

I agree with all the PPs that have said where do we stop with banning stuff. You only have to open a glossy magazine or switch on a music channel to see "perfect" bodies that are unattainable for many... Do we ban those too? It's ludicrous.

Milk call me naive but i do believe that if these type of messages (and i'm talking messages,not skinny models here,not just in adds) disappeared teens would be more inclined to give less credence to some people,if those people's attitude wasn't reinforced everywhere they looked.

It's just as daft as the "show a little leg.. don't forget to shave first" and then you wonder why there's a bunch of 9-10-11 yo girls that are self conscious and begging to shave,when all they have is still fluff

Is he also banning adverts featuring men with six packs or is it just women, because the real reason is that he doesn't want to see women with hardly any clothes on them, but he can't really say that now can he?

Hairy how many adds have you seen aimed at men saying "is your body beach/bbq/whatever ready?"?

Regulation is a good thing, I just think that banning is a step too far. You can't challenge something that's hidden away.

I don't know why a "ready for parenthood" would be any different. Again - not aimed at me.

You only have to open a glossy magazine or switch on a music channel to see "perfect" bodies that are unattainable for many... Do we ban those too? It's ludicrous.

I think raising the question and banning in one place, is provoking debate. That's a good thing.

I don't think banning everywhere is a good thing, but drawing attention to the issue is a good thing.

On a different note, I really don't care for seeing half naked models 'staring' down at me in a grotty, dusty, hot tube station on my way to the office. It's overbearing, whether it is an unusually skinny female model or a six packed male one. What is the advertising and glossy mag worlds' obsession displaying half naked people all over the shop? It's really silly, like a fetish or something! Bizarre.

It sells.
Put a typical semi naked middle aged man of 16 stone with a beer gut on an advert and it doesn't sell. We like to see attractive people is the bottom line.

I am happy to see attractive people in adverts. I'm not happy with the Beach Ready slogan.

I saw a very similar image on the front cover of a women's mag today..
I think it is Women's Health..

Very fit/slim looking woman in a white bikini though slightly sideways on instead of very front (and in your face).

The best-selling fitness video in the UK in the past 15 years was the Charlotte Crosby one- which rather dispels the notion that fitness products need or are benefitted by the use of Victoria's Secret type models for publicity purposes.

Most of us are far more likely to buy into a fitness lifestyle product if the results seem achievable by our own bodies, and it's relatable to our own lifestyle.

I doubt many people over the age of 20 looked at the Beach Body poster and thought anything other than "ODFOD."

As well as being offensively body fascist, it was also a pretty shit ad campaign and I'm glad to see that it's generally backfired on the company.

The welcome to parenthood example isn't really comparable in my opinion- it's not about making people upset because they don't/ can't have the thing mentioned in the ad- be that babies or a size 6 body- it's much bigger and deeper than that.

We all accept me can't have/ achieve certain things and don't expect the world to pussy foot around us for that (unless one is spectacularly self involved) BUT that doesn't mean we need advertising this idea that there is a "dream"
Body and then everything else, and everything else is not. Good. Enough.

I think Jessica Ennis is fine- she has her body because of the sport she does to an extremely high level. It's not actually an attainable or
Realistic body, the way professional swimmers have swimmers bodies and marathon runners have long distance runner bodies. Their bodies are a side effect of their sport.

But the idea that normal woman should aim to attain a body like the one in the original advert is corrosive, sexist and seeks to sell
Products through lowering self esteem and making people feel inadequate. That's it's whole purpose.

Bucking it was an analogy,a made up add. But i said it as " are you ready for parenthood ?" Which is bollocks..because none of those things make you "ready", just like not having them doesn't mean you're not ready and you won't be a bloody good parent. Anyways...it made sense in my head

Oh i thought you were referring to infertility, sorry

Is he also banning adverts featuring men with six packs or is it just women, because the real reason is that he doesn't want to see women with hardly any clothes on them, but he can't really say that now can he?

Why would you draw that conclusion then?

10tinycrabs "What is the advertising and glossy mag worlds' obsession displaying half naked people all over the shop? It's really silly, like a fetish or something! Bizarre."

Yes, a bizarre fetish for 'attractive half-naked humans'. Perverted if anything!

I agree we live in an obesogenic society and it takes real conscious ongoing effort not to be fat. We should be looking at ways of 'nudging' people away from weight gain and enabling healthy eating and exercise, not pointlessly banning adverts.

I agree that our society is obesogenic, but it is not in spite of "nudging". The 'nudging' is a contributing factor.

I very much doubt there are many women alive in the UK who don't know that they "mustn't eat too much". You can't bring a birthday cake into a workplace without hearing women pre-empting reproof with a contrite "oooh, I shouldn't" before they have a slice. It's like plea-bargaining; only instead of a shorter sentence for an admission of guilt, one may have cake if one humbles oneself before the group first, and pleads guilty to the crime of being a at caaaaah. First one to refer to oneself as the elephant in the room wins a slice.

If we want to have a less obesogenic culture, increasing the force of moral opprobrium attached to eating calorie-dense food has not worked. I doubt it will start working.

Here's a question. What percentage of ordinary women have a sport? That they take part in because they enjoy it? I'm not talking about gym sessions completed out of duty.

Precious few. Why is that? I have a few answers, such as offputting/traumatic experiences in school PE and changing rooms as adolescents, sport seeming inaccessible during puberty due to poor support during menstruation from teachers/parents, shit bras.